Public health officials stressed Thursday that canceling travel to Brazil for the summer Olympics would do little to stem the spread of the Zika virus.
Instead, they’re advising pregnant women to avoid traveling to countries where Zika is spreading and telling everyone else to take preventive measures such as avoiding mosquito bites and using protection during sex.
“The risk of Zika transmission at the games is low, but prevention is still the safest course of action,” said Marty Cetron, director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The estimated 350,000-500,000 visitors and athletes expected to travel to the Olympic games, which start next week, make up only a tiny fraction of travelers to Zika-affected countries. That’s why advising them to stay home would leave more than 99 percent of the risk in place for Zika spreading, officials said.
The vast majority of people who get Zika won’t experience any symptoms, and even if they do, they’re not likely to experience long-term harm. Those at high risk are pregnant women, as the virus can cause serious birth defects in fetuses.
Health officials have found 1,658 people in the U.S. with Zika, 433 of them pregnant women. All the cases so far are thought to be travel-related, although Florida officials are investigating whether four new cases could have been contracted locally through mosquito bites.
